For the all-girl small goup of the same name, this is where either myself (Tabitha) or Josie will post about something from the book we're currently going through. We want to be there for you as God moves through your lives in these formidable years, fill you with the wisdom we've garnered, and watch you grow in God's will for your life.

Friday, November 18, 2011

TGIF!!!!!!!! Seriously, I love the weekend you guys! =D I'm going downtown for lunch tomorrow. Oh yeah, and there's a book sale going on tomorrow from 9AM to 2PM at the Headquarters Library branch, for those of you who are interested. Okay, I think that's all. On to the review.Beyond What Feels Good, Back To What Is Good"...as the minister began to lead Anna and David through their vows, the unthinkable happened. A girl stood up in the middle of the congregation, walked quietly to the altar, and took David's other hand. Another girl approached and stood next to the first, followed by another. Soon, a chain of six girls stood by him as he repeated his vows to Anna.“ ‘Who are these girls, David? What’s going on?’ she gasped.“ ‘I’m…I’m sorry, Anna.’ he said, staring at the floor. “Anna felt her lip beginning to quiver as tears welled up in her eyes. ‘Is this some kind of joke?’ she whispered to David. “They’re girls from my past,’ he answered sadly. ‘Anna, they don’t mean anything to me now…but I’ve given part of my heart to each of them.’” This sums up the whole of chapter one, and that goes something like this:Going back to what I said a week ago, females have a way of getting easily infatuated. You know I'm telling the truth. I mean, we know humans in general are prone to gushiness wheter they're male or female....but females are more susceptible to that kind of thing. Knowing that, we have to be careful, whether we're in a relationship or not, to guard our hearts. As teenage girls, we're prone to getting "crushes" on cute guys. It's going to happen with all of the hormones coursing through your veins. But when we let these people become all that we think about and all we can talk about, we should really take a step back and look at the situation. Isn't God supposed to be our everything? "Yeah," someone's bound to say, "but talking about God doesn't make me feel this good!" <--- THAT, ladies, is where we should draw the line. 1 And God spoke all these words, saying, 2 "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 3 "You shall have no other gods before me.-Exodus 2:1-3When something takes the WHOLE of our attention - inanimate objects or "objects of affection" or whatever else - to the point where we put them above God, something's gotta give. We can't afford to let sentimental gush get in the way of developing a personal relationship with our Savior. Betrayed
If what happened in Anna's dream happened to you on your wedding day, how would you feel? Josh Harris tells us what Anna said about it. "When I awoke, I felt so betrayed. But then I was struck with this sickening thought: How many men could line up next to me on my wedding day? How many times have I given my heart away in short-term relationships? Will I have anything left to give o my husband?"
Sadly, I wonder how many people would be able to ask themselves that question. I really, honestly hope that you all listen to this now instead of writing it off as nonsense. The truth of the matter is this; despite what we think, we can give pieces of our heart away to different people. And when we do that and the relationship ends, we're left with a very bitter taste in our mouth, with a dark feeling in our hearts to boot. Thank God there is another option.

Something Better"...I've come to understand that God's lordship doesn't merely tinker with my idea of romance - it completely transforms it. God not only wants me to think differently, He wants me to think differently - to view love, purity, and singleness from His perspective, to have a new lifestyle and attitude."The basis of this new attitude is what I call 'smart love.' Paul describes this kind of love in Philippians 1:9-10:

And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ.

"Smart love constantly grows and deepens in its practical knowledge and insight; it opens our eyes to see God's best for our lives, enabling us to be pure and blameless in His sight."

Smart love is the key. Growing in knowledge and insight so that we can detemrine what is God's best for us until the day of Jesus' return. That's what we need to learn, girls. :)

I'm going to leave you with this: no matter how young or old we are, we're never too old to learn, to gain Godly wisdom and insight, and to live by it. Let's promise to give ourselves to daily growth and the "pruning" Jesus talks about in Luke 15 (Read it. Insight and knowledge, minies.).

Monday, November 7, 2011

"Learn to love appropriatly. You need to use your head and test your feelings so that your love is sincere, not sentimental gush." - The Message Bible, Phillpians 1:9-10

Between the ages of 11 (sometimes younger) and 18 (sometimes older...much older) girls are absolutly prone to hormone-induced affection for just about anything, human and non-human alike. I know, because I was an 11 to 18 year old girl not long ago at all, and I know what it's like.When I was younger than what I am no), I could easily love a person or thing, whether it was good for me or not. I tossed around the word "love" like I had an unending supply of the stuff. However, as I got older, I caught on to what I was doing. "Love" is the strongest four-letter word in the English language. As an aspiring author at age 16, I began to use my head when deciding how I felt about things. I learned to be careful about what I said, how and when I said it, and what I speaking about.

As Christian young women, we need to be careful when it comes to what we say. I think the Bible is pretty clear on this phrase: "Words have power". God spoke, and the universe came into being. We carry that same power in Christ Jesus.Therefore, we should be like Jesus and speak using choice words instead of spouting what Josh Hariss calls sentimental gush.

Now...I know you're thinking, "Okay. Got it. Watch what I say. But isn't this supposed to be about dating and boys?" (Inner 90s child) Chill out, dude, chill out. It's all good, man. We'll get to that next week, my minis. :)Until then,Tabitha.<3